RAWABET: Participation | Connectivity | Diversity
Eight Performing Arts and Music Projects in Seven Different European Cities Receive Support in the Second Round of the Rawabet Programme
Ettijahat – Independent Culture announces the grantees of the second cycle of production grants within the Rawabet (Arabic for “links”) programme. The jury has chosen to support four performing arts and four musical projects to be produced and presented in seven European cities.
The Rawabet programme targets emerging artists of different ethnicities hailing from the Arab region, who have moved to Europe since 2015 and who are active in the performing arts, including theatre, dance, circus, performances and music. It offers them production grants of up to €12,000. Some of the supported projects will also have the opportunity to participate in one of Rawabet’s festivals in 2025 and 2026.
Supported Projects
Performing Arts Category
In the Shell of the Gesture (One Cracks, One Carries)
Isshaq Albarbary: Palestinian Multidisciplinary Artist – Amsterdam, Netherlands
A multimedia project that holds gestures of care forcibly interrupted by incarceration and bureaucratic violence. Isshaq Albarbary uses performance, sculpture, sound, and video installation to materially preserve interrupted gestures, refusing explicit narration, and instead allowing subtle forms of care and tension to persist quietly under sustained pressure.
Sound Body
Kim Baraka: Lebanese Dance Artist and Scientist – Amsterdam, Netherlands
A research-based multimedia performance in “sono-archeology” that explores the idea of the body as a sound archive. The piece touches on themes of identity, heritage, and universality, embracing the use of sound as a penetrative means of communication with destructive, healing and transformative properties.
Tracking the Ghost Archive (working title)
Noor Abuarafeh: Palestinian Artist – Rotterdam, Netherlands
A performance piece that explores the concept of cultural genocide and resistance. The project addresses the destruction of cultural sites and artworks in the Palestinian context by creating a visual map of these spaces and proposing a living archive that reclaims lost objects through imagination, narrative, and collective practices.
May Your Will Be Done
Rémi Sarmini: Syrian Theatre Actor and Director – Brussels, Belgium
A multilingual theatrical and musical performance inspired by Michelangelo's Pieta, which depicts the Virgin Mary cradling the body of Christ after his crucifixion. The performance highlights the suffering, loss, and sacrifice of the mothers of martyrs, especially mothers who lost their children to imprisonment, war, or the sea.
Music Category
Voice of an Immigrant
Ayaat Mohamed: Egyptian Singer – Greifswald, Germany
A mini-album project that blends Arabic and Nubian singing to reflect the experience of a woman who migrated from Egypt to Europe, expressing feelings of nostalgia, alienation, and self-rediscovery in a new society. The album will be released digitally across music platforms, alongside live performances and interactive workshops.
Between Abstraction and Transformation: A Becoming
Deena Abelwahed: Tunisian Electronic Producer and DJ – Lyon, France
An electronic performance musical project developed in collaboration with IRCAM Paris. This project will explore the relationship between physical movement and sound in Arabic music by repurposing electronic instruments to suit traditional gestures, creating a new and unconventional sonic experience, and reshaping the relationship between what is seen and what is heard.
Transit
Rust: Electro-Tarab Duo – Prague, Czechia
A musical album produced in collaboration with poet Nada Elshabrawy, this work addresses social and psychological issues facing Arabs, emulating their existential struggle and the question of identity and alienation. The album presents contemporary electronic musical forms and complex sounds blended with Arabic vocals and authentic oriental melodies.
Trip (working title)
Zohud: Palestinian Singer and Musician – Montpellier, France
A musical album of songs composed and sung by Zohud, whose musical style varies greatly along with his lyrics.
The Rawabet Jury Committee
The Rawabet Programme held its second round of jury committees in the performing arts and music genres categories during the third week of June 2025. The committees selected projects to receive support after thoroughly reviewing all eligible applications based on specific criteria, including quality, artistic vision, feasibility, and the project’s role in the artist’s career. The performing arts jury included Lebanese choreographer Ali Chahrour, Moroccan director Asmaa Houri, and Syrian choreographer and cultural manager Mey Seifan. The music jury featured Egyptian composer Basem Darwisch, Palestinian oud player and composer Nizar Rohana, and Tunisian violinist Saima Samoud. The juries provided valuable observations, reflections, and recommendations regarding the artistic projects, and formulated them in the following statement:
Performing Arts Jury Statement
In the projects it examined, the jury observed a high level of awareness and a close connection to the personal and collective contexts experienced by artists today. There was a clear tendency to return to memory and archives and tell stories in contemporary language through innovative live media. The jury noted a strong presence of themes such as war, loss, death, and diaspora, in addition to a striking focus on Palestine, reflecting the artists' growing sense of injustice. The organic connection between the issues raised and the selected art forms was striking, particularly dance, which dominated other disciplines in the number of eligible applications received.
The formulation of the project proposals was clear, but the jury noted a similarity in style among many of them, due in part to the use of artificial intelligence tools, which have deprived some projects of their expressive specificity. The jury also faced a challenge in evaluating the projects due to the lack or limited availability of supporting materials, as it is difficult to rely solely on text and images to form an accurate artistic vision.
The committee recommends intensifying technical and artistic research when preparing projects, drawing on local references, and not simply following what is prevalent or desired. Furthermore, many projects demonstrated clear distinction and deserve further development and support. The limited number of projects that could be supported posed a real challenge for the committee, given the richness and technical value of the proposals.
Music Jury Statement
The music category of the Rawabet programme witnessed remarkable diversity in the submitted projects, both in terms of the musicians' artistic backgrounds and the various stages of their careers. These projects reflected the vitality of the Arab music scene in Europe today, and the quality of the texts accompanying the projects was striking, highlighting the artists' awareness of their projects and the musical context surrounding them.
The jury faced a challenge in evaluating projects that were extremely diverse in terms of form, content, and techniques used. Therefore, in its selection, the jury focused on original projects that had a fresh spirit, unique ideas, and a clear imprint that distinguished them from others and offered them the potential for real development.
The jury also noted a dominance of electronic music projects, reflecting a prevailing global trend. The inclination toward this trend risks compromising artists' visions to satisfy the prevailing norm, which calls for rethinking authenticity and its place within the methods of collaboration and production.
Lastly, the committee noted that most artists rely on themselves to manage production and promotional tasks, which impacts project implementation and sustainability. The committee recommends seriously considering building partnerships with professionals in these fields, when the capabilities are available.
The projects selected for support will be implemented in 2025 and 2026. Ettijahat had launched an open call for applications to grants for supporting performing arts projects, which ran for two months, and received 80 submissions competing for support.
Production grants are a key component of the Rawabet programme. To explore the programme’s other components and partners, click here.
The Rawabet programme is supported by the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) within the framework of CREATIVE EUROPE. The views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
